Today in Comics History, November 22, 1963: And that's why the First Four and Jack Kennedy missed the premiere of Doctor Who

from Planetary #6 (WildStorm, November 1999), script by Warren Ellis, pencils and inks by John Cassaday, colors by= Laura Martin and David Baron, letters by Ali Fuchs

Today in Comics History, November 22: And that's why the Soviets missed the premiere of Doctor Who

"Success" in Weird Fantasy (1950 series) #16 (EC, November 1950), creator uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, November 22, 1951, Thanksgiving: Nancy is an old farmer

Nancy (United Feature Syndicate, May 31, 1951), by Ernie Bushmiller
A special tip 'of the three rocks to Johnny Callicutt for bringing this strip to my attention. Johnny runs the absolutely essential and unofficial Nancy Comics by Ernie Bushmiller feeds on Twitter and Bluesky! Thanks, Johnny!

Today in Comics History, November 22: Happy birthday, Ethel Smith!

Born on this day in 1902: popular organist Ethel Smith, popular musician and actor of the Golden Age primarily known for her energetic performances of Latin music. And, an avid golfer!


from Juke Box Comics #3 (Eastern Color, July 1948); text, pencils, inks, and letters by Phil Berube
Happy birthday and play us off with a hearty unspoken babaloo, Ethel!

"The Breeze and I" by Ethel Smith, from Tropical Swing: Selections from the Universal Feature "Cuban Pete" (Castle Films, 1947), with Desi Arnaz and His Orchestra

Today in Comics History, The Day Before the Day Before Thanksgiving: Banshee is beginning to regret admitting Leaf-Fall-Off Boy into Generation X

from Generation X (1994 series) #23 (Marvel, January 1997), script by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Mitch Byrd, inks by Jason Martin and Karl Story, colors by Steve Buccellato, color separations by Graphic Color Works, letters by Richard Starkings

Today in Comics History, November 20, 1966: NASA discovers the great refreshing taste of Tang

from "The Mystery Monuments" in UFO Flying Saucers #3 (Western/Gold Key, November 1972), pencils and inks by John Celardo

Today in Comics History, November 20: Happy birthday, Edwin Hubble!

Born on this day in 1889: pioneering astronomer Edwin Hubble, who proved that far-off "clouds of dust gas" or nebulas were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way, and proved that the universe is expanding ("The Hubble Law")! Not to mention him being the namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was once a fuzzy white elephant until somebody noticed that it wasn't plugged in or something, and now it gives us unprecented photography of the stars, if not necessarily the green women of Orion.


from "Giants of the Telescope" in Mystery in Space (1951 series) #21 (DC, August 1954), creatords uncredited and unknown
Let us salute Edwin Hubble by remember the time Mike Nelson broke the Hubble Telescope.


from Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Universal/Gramercy, 1996), directed by Jim Mallon; starring Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, and Kevin Murphy
Happy birthday, Ed! Keep watching the stars!

Today in Comics History, November 20, 1998: At last the Daily Bugle embarrasses somebody besides Spider-Man

from Captain America (1998 series) #13 (Marvel, January 1999), script by Mark Waid, pencils by Doug Braithwaite, inks by Robin Riggs, colors by Shannon Blanchard and Kevin Tinsley, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, November 19, 1863: Superman swerves to avoid the giant heads of the Founding Fathers and Charles Xavier

from "The World's Most Perfect Girl!" in Action Comics (1938 series) #133 (DC/National, June 1949), script by Dorothy Woolfolk, pencils and inks by Al Plastino

Today in Comics History, November 18, 1982 and 1990: Grandpa arrives; eight years later, so does Godzilla

from Fantastic Four (2023 series) #1/694 (Marvel, January 2023), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Iban Coello, colors by Jesus Aburtov, letters by Joe Caramagna

Today in Comics History, November 17, 1918: Everybody in London pretty much has the same color hair

from "The Ghost of Wandsgate Gallows!" in Ghosts (1971 series) #10 (DC/National, December 1972), script by Leo Dorfman, pencils and inks by Ernie Chan, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, November 8: Happy birthday, Tony DeZuniga!

Born on this day in 1932: comics artist, penciller and inker Tony DeZuniga, co-creator of Jonah Hex and Black Orchid! He's also worked on Weird Western Tales, Weird War Tales, Weird War Tales (notice a theme there?), Archie's Red Circle books, Jonah Hex, Sinister House of Secret Love, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love/Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, All-Star Western, The Witching Hour and more, plus inking dozens and dozens of DCs and Marvels!

"[Conan with His Chroniclers]" from Savage Sword of Conan (1974 series) #200 (Marvel, August 1992), pencils and inks by Dave Simons
(Click picture to Cimmerian-size)
Happy birthday, Tony!

Bully and His Pals: Happy birthday, Shelly!

On November 1 it was the birthday of my pal Shelly the Little Otter Puppet — her eighth birthday, in fact (which is a very good age to be, at least when she is not flaunting over me the fact that she is older than me). It's been such a hectic week that we didn't have time to celebrate until tonight, so luckily Shelly has been very gracious about that fact. Photographs are by the lovely Randi, who always makes us look great!

Bully (Makes and) Eats Food: Orange Chicken

Hey, check it out, gourmets and gourmands: I made Chinese food for dinner tonight — orange chicken!


Okay, okay, I may have cheated a little. But I still made it!

Today in Comics History, November 4: Thinking is a free action

from Daredevil (1964 series) #130 (Marvel, February 1976), script by Marv Wolfman, breakdowns by Bob Brown, finishes by Klaus Janson, colors by Michele Wolfman, letters by John Costanza (credited)
This panel was brought to my attention on Twitter by pal Gracious Greg A! Thanks, Greg!

Today in Comics History, November 2: Happy birthday, Steve Ditko!

Born on this day in 1927: comics writer/artist Steve Ditko, who created and co-created "a few" characters along the way of his lengthy career...


"DC Profiles #58" from DC Comics cover-dated April 1980

Today in Comics History, November 2, 1957: I got really excited at first because I thought that read "Panic at Legoland"

from "Panic at Levelland" in UFO Flying Saucers #1 (Western/Gold Key, October 1968), script by Leo Dorfman, pencils and inks by Luis Dominguez

Today in Comics History, November 2, 19XX: Looks like Lex's red fountain pen got away from him

cover of Superman (1987 series) #131 (DC, January 1998), pencils by Ron Frenz, inks by Joe Rubinstein, colors by Patrick Martin
Oh, and yeah, happy birthday, Lena Luthor!

Today in Comics History, November 2, 1736 and 1741: The chilling tale of the college guy who just wouldn't stop trying to party with his frat bros after graduation

The tale of a club membership signed...in blood! Awwooooooooooooo! Pretty scary if you ask me, because they all caught hepititus.


from "The Immortals Club" in Ripley's Believe It or Not! #60 (Western/Gold Key, February 1976), script by Paul S. Newman
Just like the Columbia House Record Club, though, once you sign up for the Immortals Club, you just cannot get off their mailing list.

Today in Comics History, November 2, 2020: Villainous Russian's jetstream erases panel borders

from "The Hook" in James Bond: Reflections of Death (Dynamite, September 2020), script by Andy Diggle, pencils and inks by Luca Casalanguida, colors by Celeste Woods, letters by Ariana Maher